Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Roster Construction

Posted June 29th, 2026 | No Comments »

Building an NFL roster would seem to be simple. Choose your 53 best players. But that is an oversimplification. You’re looking for the right 53. What makes a player “right”? That’s where things get complicated.

Gameday

The first focus is finding your starters and key backups. You want to have an idea of who would be active on gameday. Obviously you can only project that so far because of all the unknown factors (injuries, matchups, etc.).

Special Teams 

This ties into the gameday stuff mentioned above. You need guys to be good and willing contributors on STs. Elijah Moore is a better WR than Darius Cooper, but which guy is more likely to cover punts and/or kickoffs? That is an important consideration when choosing backups. You’re looking for guys who can cover, block or have return ability. Kelee Ringo is not a good CB. He is an outstanding gunner and that could earn him a roster spot and playing time.

Money

Finances are a key part of the modern NFL. If a young, cheap player outplays a veteran, you might pass on the experience to save some money and take a chance on the young guy. Every bit of cap savings can help.

The Future

You build a roster with one eye on this season and one on the future. You need young talent in place to be ready for the future. The Eagles signed safety JT Gray to give them depth and to help on STs. If UDFA Kapena Gushiken plays as well as Gray, you go with Gushiken. He could develop into something in the future. We know who/what Gray is. There isn’t much upside with him.

Numbers Game 

You need a certain amount of players at each position. You can go heavy or light at some spots, but there are general numbers you need to hit. The Eagles have better depth at LB than safety, but may keep the same number of guys at each spot. Some teams go light at QB. The Eagles seem to like having three deep there. Sometimes you think 25 on offense, 25 on defense and 3 on STs. There are times when you skew to one side of the ball, but not by much.

*****

Here are some recent roster predictions.

Your humble friend and narrator

Brandon Lee Gowton

Anthony Dibona

None of us agreed on all 53. We had different ideas and reasonings.

One key thing to keep in mind is that we haven’t seen the 2026 Eagles in pads or hitting. You can see movement ability from the OL/DL and there is value in that, but the real evaluation comes when things go live. Who is tougher? Who is stronger? Who wins battles?

We also saw young players just getting started. Guys get better over time. You might not like WR Johnny Wilson for some reason. If the guy has a terrific Training Camp, he deserves to make the roster. You might doubt Ty Robinson, who had a quiet spring. Maybe the light comes on for him in August and he plays well. You always want to judge players on the most current info.

Right now we are guessing more than anything. But that is part of the fun. It is always interesting to see how players handle TC. Gabe Hall looked completely lost as a rookie. He was worlds better in Year 2. Some guys struggle or even regress. We saw veteran pass rushers having poor camps last summer. The Eagles used to have a nice tradition of a veteran LB disappointing us each summer (LJ Fort, Corey Nelson, etc.). I’m glad those days are over.

*****

Only 10? Jimmy Bama continues to be a slacker.

*****

I love discovering new players. I’d never heard of Bill “Boom Boom” Brown, a FB for the Vikings in the 60’s/70’s. These highlights are a lot of fun. Boom Boom did not like being tackled. It is also interesting to see how weather was so much more of a factor back in the day.

x\

I love old school football.

_